Smoked

by Mari Mancusi

  Trinity grinned, grabbing the walkie and pulling it to her mouth.

  “Luke! Oh my God. There’re so many! How did you get so many?”

  She could hear the smile in his voice as he replied, “Yeah, well, that’s the interwebs for you. Though they’re going to be mighty disappointed when they find out this well-sourced rumor of a secret show is just that,” he said with a laugh. “But hopefully you’ll be in and out and long gone by then.”

  “Absolutely,” she replied, watching the cars surround the facility, parking everywhere as a mob of colorfully dressed raver kids spilled out of every available door. Insta–Burning Man, just add water. “You did good.”

  As she set down the walkie-talkie, she could hear Connor’s hmph beside her. She turned to him. “Come on, dude. You have to admit, this is pretty genius.”

  Connor shrugged. He’d made it clear he didn’t trust Luke and his two friends, the gamer geeks from Fauna, New Mexico, who had dubbed themselves the Dracken and ran an Emmy fan site online. And Trinity supposed she couldn’t entirely blame him for that. After all, for him, this entire thing was a strange sort of déjà vu. Where he came from—two hundred years in the dragon-scorched future—the Dracken had been the bad guys. The ones who had started this whole dragon apocalypse to begin with…by breaking into a government facility and letting the dragons free.

  In other words, exactly the same thing they were doing now.

  The Dracken, Connor had argued, shouldn’t exist in this new time line. Not if Trinity had truly stopped the apocalypse. But somehow here they were. Not only here—but contributing to the exact same mission that had led to catastrophe in the first place.

  Trinity had tried to convince him that things weren’t the same this time. That these so-called Dracken were gamer geeks, not the trained animal rights activists the original Dracken had been. Heck, just their daily hamburger consumption alone should have clued him into that. Not to mention, this time, they’d formed on their own—without Trinity’s help. And way earlier in the time line than the first time around.

  But no matter what she said, Connor remained unconvinced. In fact, she knew if he had his way, they wouldn’t be rescuing Emmy at all. She would already be dead—dragon apocalypse permanently averted.

  But he hadn’t killed Emmy when he’d had the chance. Because Trinity had asked him not to. And as much as he hated dragons, he loved her more.

  She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. Right now, none of that mattered. The point was, they were here. They were going to rescue Emmy. This time it would work.

  It had to work.

  “Look,” she said, pointing to the road again. “Here come the delivery trucks.”

  “Excellent. That’s our cue.”

  Connor turned the key in the ignition and stepped on the gas, pulling their own vehicle into line with the others, heading around back, toward the facility’s loading dock. Trinity swallowed hard, her heart pounding in her chest as they followed the other trucks into the belly of the beast. There was no turning back now.

  By the time they entered the dock, chaos reigned. Which was exactly their intention when they’d set this plan into motion. Through the website, Luke had rallied a bunch of his followers into placing massive delivery orders of every kind—to be delivered at this very moment. Now, while music fans caused a scene in the front of the building, distracting all the guards, the loading dock would be assaulted from the back with pizzas and furniture delivery and Amazon orders, all arriving at once.

  Luke had explained it was like a DoS—denial-of-service—attack on a computer, but in real life. Overwhelm them, knock out their resources, and slip inside unnoticed to stage the rescue. It truly was a brilliant plan.

  And this time, it had to work.

  Connor placed the truck into park. A harried-looking man with a clipboard ran up to them, sweat beading on his forehead. Connor rolled down the window and gave him his best annoyed look. “What the hell is going on here?” he demanded. “I just need to drop off a box. I’m already way behind schedule.”

  The man shook his head. “Hell if I know. They never tell us anything.” He glanced over at the loading dock entryway, where more trucks were arriving. “Seriously, they do not pay me enough to deal with this.” He groaned loudly. “Drop your box wherever you find room. I’ll be back to sign off on it in a minute.” He ran off to talk to the next driver. Connor turned to Trinity, his mouth quirked to a grin. Even if he didn’t like the idea of this plan, she could tell the soldier in him liked the way it was working.

  “Okay, Fire Kissed,” he said. “It’s showtime.”

  Together they jumped out of the truck, slamming the doors behind them. Connor ran around the back, rolling up the door and pulling out a huge box. Trinity helped him heave it onto the loading dock.

  “Are you okay in there?” she whispered to the box.

  “Perfect,” Nate assured her from inside. “You guys go on ahead. I should be close enough now to hack into their security cameras and get them offline.” He paused then added, “Good luck. Just don’t forget about me once you have your dragon.”

  “Never,” Trinity assured him, patting the box. Then she rose to her feet and approached Connor. “Ready?”

  “As I’ll ever be.”

  With confident, casual steps, they strode up to the guard, who was propped in a chair by the elevator, his feet up, nose in a book, completely ignoring the chaos around him. Guess deliveries weren’t in his job description. Connor gave him a small smile. “We need the elevator,” he informed him.

  “Yeah, well, I need my ex-wife to get off my back,” the guard said lazily, snapping his gum. “We’ve all got problems.”

  Connor’s eyes zeroed in on him. “I don’t think you understand,” he said. “We need the elevator. We need to get upstairs. You need to let us in.”

  Trinity drew in a breath, watching him work. She had to admit, Connor looked particularly hot when he was working to manipulate people’s minds. It was like he got this look in his eyes—those blue, glowing eyes of his—like he was some kind of Jedi Master or something. Truth be told, it kind of made her want to jump his bones. Not that this was the time or the place.

  Pushing the inappropriate thought down, she turned back to his victim. Sure enough, the man’s face had gone slack, and he was staring up at Connor with vacant eyes. “You need the elevator,” he droned. “You need to get upstairs. You need me to let you in.”

  Then, to Trinity’s excitement, he slowly rose to his feet, walked over to the elevator in question, and inserted his key. Just like that. A moment later, the doors yawned open. The guard looked at them expectantly.

  Trin flashed Connor an approving look. You didn’t even need my help for that one, she teased.

  Yeah, well, it’s all you from here on out, he shot back, but he looked pleased by the compliment all the same. She wondered how normal people who didn’t have psychic powers managed rescue attempts. It was hard enough with the gift.

  They stepped into the elevator, and Connor turned to her expectantly. “What floor?”

  She closed her eyes, searching for Scarlet in her mind. “Three,” she said after a moment. “She’s on three.”

  Of course she would have much preferred to go straight for Emmy, rescuing her before even thinking about springing Scarlet. But because the connection between her and the dragon had severed, there was no way to know precisely where they’d stashed her, and they didn’t have time to waste wandering around. So they’d decided it was best to rescue Scarlet first and then have her lead them to Emmy.

  Connor pressed the button, and the elevator grumbled loudly as its doors slid shut. As they shot up to the third floor, the walkie burst to life again.

  “I’ve disabled the security cameras,” Nate whispered from the other end. “It was ridiculously easy, actually. For a government lab, their security ki
nd of sucks.”

  “Or maybe you’re just kind of awesome,” Trinity suggested, finally allowing herself to smile. For once, everything was going exactly to plan, and she was starting to feel hopeful that they could really pull this off this time. “Now stand by, okay? We may need you again.”

  “I’m taped up in a U-Haul box, remember?” Nate snorted. “I wasn’t exactly planning on going out for cigs.” He laughed. “Just don’t leave me hanging too long. My legs are already starting to cramp up in this thing.”

  “Well, we were planning to swing by the cafeteria for a leisurely brunch, but I suppose we can expedite for your circulation’s sake.”

  Trinity stuffed the walkie in her back pocket, then looked at Connor expectantly. He sighed. “Yeah, yeah,” he said. “He did good, okay? What do you want, for me to give him a Medal of Honor?”

  “If we pull this off, I’m buying everyone medals,” she declared as the elevator doors slid open. “Maybe even full-on trophies.”

  They stepped out into a white hallway lined with doors fitted with barred windows. Thankfully there didn’t seem to be any guards on duty—maybe they were all dealing with the music fans out front. She and Connor’s gift to bend minds was vital to the mission, but it was also in limited supply. Too many minds and they’d end up out of spark. And they’d have to start taking out guards the old-fashioned way.

  Trinity closed her eyes, seeking Scarlet again as they headed down the hall, Connor guiding her by the arm so she wouldn’t walk into any walls. Halfway down the corridor, she opened her eyes, turning to one of the nondescript doors. She peered into the window.

  “It’s her,” she whispered to Connor. “At least I’m pretty sure it is.”

  With a trembling hand, she reached for the door handle. But, of course, it was locked. She grabbed her walkie again. “Can you find the security system for the third floor?” she asked Nate. “We need to open cell door…” She scanned the area for a number. “Fourteen.”

  “Hm,” Nate replied, and she could hear him typing furiously on the other end of the line, which couldn’t have been easy to do from inside a box. “I don’t think the doors unlock remotely. But I could cut power to the floor. It’d only be for a few seconds—before the emergency backup kicks on. So you’d have to move fast.”

  “Okay,” she agreed, her eyes darting nervously down the hall. She didn’t know how long they had left before the guards stationed on this floor returned. And she didn’t want to be caught in the dark when they did. Drawing in a shaky breath, she wrapped her hand around the handle again. “I’m ready.”

  “Wait!” Connor hissed. “I think someone’s—”

  The lights cut out before he could finish, leaving them in total darkness.

  “Hey!” a voice cried out. “What the hell?”

  Startled, Trin let out an involuntarily squeak. Connor grabbed her hand—squeezing it tight, a signal for her to keep still. Her heart slammed against her ribs—so loudly she was almost positive the man in the hallway would be able to hear it.

  What should we do? she sent Connor silently.

  You get that door open, he returned. I’ll deal with this guy.

  He let go of her hand, and she felt him move; he was sneaking down the hall in the direction of the shuffling sound at the other end. It was then that she remembered how good his eyesight was—from a lifetime of underground living—and felt a little better.

  She turned back to the door, pushing down on the handle slowly, so it wouldn’t make a noise and alert the man to their presence. Fortunately, Nate’s trick seemed to have worked, and the door gave way easily. Unfortunately, it let out a loud groan when it did, despite her best efforts. A groan that echoed through the hallway.

  “Who’s there?” the man called out. “What do you think you’re—”

  Before he could finish, the emergency power kicked in, just as Nate had predicted, and the hall burst back into light. Trinity whirled around, just in time to catch sight of the guard—and Connor, who had managed to sneak up behind him. The Dragon Hunter slammed his laser pistol down onto the back of the man’s head, and he crumpled to the floor on impact, out cold. Trinity let out a breath of relief. Guess the old-fashioned way was pretty effective too.

  Connor toed the guard, making sure he was truly unconscious. Then he looked back up at Trin. “Please tell me you were able to open the door.”

  She grinned, bowing low and presenting him with the now-open cell. Connor raced back to her, and together they stepped inside. The emergency lights had only come on in the hallway, so the interior of the cell was still pitch-black.

  “Who’s there?” a girl’s terrified voice rang out through the darkness. “Please don’t hurt me!”

  Trinity’s heart flipped in her chest. It was Scarlet. It was really her!

  “Scarlet, it’s me, Trinity,” she said, keeping her voice low, in case any more guards were lurking nearby. “Connor’s with me. We’re here to rescue you.”

  Now that her eyes were adjusting to the darkness, she could see the outline of the prisoner. Scarlet looked thin. Much thinner than she’d been the last time Trinity had seen her. And as she took a step forward, wobbling on pencil-thin legs, Trinity felt an unexpected rush to her gut. The last six months, she’d been so preoccupied with what Emmy must be going through, she hadn’t given much thought to Scarlet’s well-being.

  You sent her here, the nagging voice reminded her. Whatever she’s suffered is all because of you.

  “Trinity? Connor? Oh my God, is it really you?” Scarlet cried. “I was beginning to think you’d forgotten about us.”

  Trinity winced at the unintentional jab, the guilt again twisting in her gut. She wanted to protest—to explain they’d been trying desperately, this entire time, to stage this rescue. That she hadn’t had one moment of rest since Emmy had been taken away. But what would that matter to Scarlet? Scarlet who had been stuck in a dark, dank cell, waiting for the rescue that had been promised and—up until this moment—not delivered.

  And what about Emmy? Had her dragon given up on the idea of rescue too?

  “Where’s Emmy?” she demanded. “We need to—”

  A booming sound drowned out the rest of her question, followed by a flash as the fluorescents flickered back on. Someone must have hit the override. Now, in better light, Trinity could clearly see Scarlet standing before them, dressed in a dirty blue jumpsuit and brown slippers. She was definitely skinnier—almost gaunt—and her arms and legs were covered in track marks and bruises. She was pale too, her copper skin now faded to beige, as if she’d lost a good deal of blood. And her once-shiny, thick hair was dull and matted.

  Nausea rose in Trinity’s throat. What horrors had this poor girl been through? And if this was how they’d treated her—a fellow human being—what more had been done to her dragon?

  Scarlet blinked, as if trying to adjust her eyes to the sudden bright light. “They keep Emmy on the other side of the facility,” she told them. Her voice sounded hesitant. Strangely…reluctant. “I can take you there. I know the way.”

  A rush of relief crashed over Trinity. She hadn’t allowed herself to consider, until this moment, the very real possibility that Scarlet wouldn’t know where Emmy was being held. Or that Emmy had already been moved somewhere else. Or—she shuddered—that Emmy wasn’t even alive to be rescued at all.

  No. She’s alive, she assured herself, her gut wrenching again. She’s alive and Scarlet’s going to take you to her now. In just a few minutes, you’ll see her again.

  This had to work this time. It had to.

  She shook herself. “Great,” she said, making her way to the door. “Then let’s go.”

  She stopped at the doorway, realizing Scarlet wasn’t following. She turned back impatiently. “Well?” she asked. “Aren’t you coming?”

  Scarlet stared down at her feet, shifting her weight fro
m left to right. “Yes. Of course,” she said in a slow voice. “But first, well, I think there’s something you should know.”

  Trinity frowned. They were wasting time they didn’t have. And yet Scarlet didn’t look as if she were willing to move until she’d had her say. “What is it?” she demanded. “What is it you think I should know?” Even as she asked, she wasn’t sure she wanted the answer.

  Scarlet suddenly looked up, her eyes meeting Trin’s for the first time. Large, frightened eyes that sent a shiver tripping down Trinity’s spine. Whatever she was about to say—well, it wasn’t going to be good. Trinity swallowed hard. “Scarlet, what is it?”

  “It’s about Emmy.”

  Chapter Two

  About Emmy?

  Trinity bit her lower lip, her heart thudding violently in her chest. She could feel Connor’s hand find her arm, trying to calm her down, but she shook it off. They didn’t have time for this. The guards could realize they were here any second now and sound the alarm. “Scarlet, what is it? What should I know about Emmy?”

  “It’s just…well, I think you should prepare yourself. I don’t want you to be shocked when you see her,” Scarlet said in a voice so low Trinity could barely make it out. “Emmy’s…I don’t know…different now.”

  Cold dread gripped Trinity with icy fingers. Suddenly, it was all she could do to keep standing upright. “Different?” she managed to repeat. “What do you mean, different?”

  Scarlet let out a slow sigh, still not moving from the spot they’d found her. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s best if you see it for yourself.”

  “Well, I’d love to,” Trinity volleyed back before she could stop herself. “If you’d ever get around to showing us the way.”

  Scarlet’s face crumpled at this, and Trinity immediately regretted her harsh words. After all, Scarlet wasn’t responsible for any of this mess. She’d only done what Trinity had asked her to do. And she’d suffered for it. By the looks of it, she’d suffered quite a bit.